


me, my love, i trust in you

by walkthegale



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Escape, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Portals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24944878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkthegale/pseuds/walkthegale
Summary: They're not there yet.Spoilers for the end of season 4.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29
Collections: The Hackle Summer Trope Challenge





	me, my love, i trust in you

**Author's Note:**

> For week 4 of the 2020 Hackle Summer Trope Challenge: https://cassiopeiasara.tumblr.com/post/621507884059066368/hackle-summer-trope-challenge-week-4-of-8
> 
> Prompt: **Retreat (Fanworks in which characters go on a retreat.)**

They're not there yet.

Any kind of recovery takes time, takes patience, takes work. You’re changed in some ways, forever. Hecate knows this the way she knows the hum of her own magic in her veins.

They talk about it. They’ll keep talking about it. One day, Ada won’t flinch when she hears Agatha’s name. Won’t get that hollow look behind her eyes. One day, the mass of guilt and horror and fear in the centre of Hecate’s chest will loosen its grip. It’s smaller now than it was. She thinks sometimes that she’s beginning to be able to see beyond it.

That doesn’t help much today though. She hasn’t seen Ada since breakfast, and she knows there’s likely no reason to worry about her, but she finds herself doing so, all the same. She transfers into Ada’s office, after a particularly irritating lesson with the Second Years, and has already begun speaking by the time she realises Ada is not there.

No one has seen her in the staff room either. Hecate hears about a meeting cancelled, a planning session postponed - all done at the last minute, by hasty maglet messages, which isn’t really Ada’s usual way of organising things, though the messages do sound like her. Hecate is sure they sound like her. She ignores the creeping doubt in the back of her mind, that tells her, every time, _you were sure then, too._

She checks the grounds, the rose garden, and eventually even sends a message to Ada’s maglet. The reason for the lack of response to that becomes evident when she transfers into their bedroom and finds the device discarded on Ada’s bedside table. This, also, is not unusual - Ada does not always remember to carry it with her, any more than Hecate does herself.

Hecate is about to transfer away again when a small fold of parchment catches her eye, on her pillow, bearing the briefest of notes, scrawled in Ada’s unmistakeable but hurried handwriting.

_Hecate,_  
_Don’t worry. Back soon._  
_xxx_

Standing next to their bed, Hecate reads it twice, though she knows after the first time exactly where Ada has gone.

She also knows that she’ll follow.

First, she spends a few moments and gathers some supplies and necessities. Stopping by the staff room again, she has a quick word with Dimity, who nods and sends her on her way without a moment’s pause.

And after that she makes her way to a far corner of the castle, transferring herself to the far end of a rarely-used corridor, at the top of a winding staircase, where an innocuous-looking door only opens with a particular key that she pulls the air in front of it, and a few choice words chanted under her breath.

The door swings open, and she’s immediately pleased she hadn’t misremembered - this door only leads this way on specific days of the year, and she has been proven correct in her belief that today is one of them.

On the other side, she’s greeted by vibrant blue, and warm yellow, and bright, sparkling reflected light. A warm breeze blows through the doorway, greeting her with the fresh smell of salt and vegetation. Hecate steps through, feeling the magic of the portal tug at her insides as she crosses the threshold, out of the castle and onto the beach.

She’s in a small cove, protected by raggedy cliffs topped with long, lush grass. The sea is gentle today - only a few small, white-tipped waves lapping at the shore. A few gulls wheel overhead in a blue sky strewn with wisps of cloud, and the sand is smooth and soft under her boots. It is beautifully, delightfully familiar, and she wonders fleetingly why she hasn’t found the time to return here more often.

Turning and looking along the beach, Hecate is further pleased to find that she is not alone. Sitting on a rock a short distance away, pink dress tucked around her knees, Ada has noticed her arrival and waves to her with a small smile. The sense of relief that floods through Hecate is utterly overwhelming, and for a moment her knees feel weak beneath her.

She knows it’s ridiculous. She knows it’s an overreaction to this situation. She knows it is.

She pulls herself together, draws herself up straight and tall, and heads across the damp sand towards Ada.

As Hecate nears her, she can see tear tracks on Ada’s cheeks, and her eyes are rimmed with red. Ada reaches out both hands to greet Hecate and Hecate takes them in her own, holding them tight. Ada’s fingers are a little chilled. 

Hecate leans down and presses a gentle kiss to Ada’s forehead, then takes a half a step back, dropping Ada’s hands and looking deep into her eyes. “I saw your note. I’m sorry,” she begins, ready to apologise for following Ada here, but Ada shakes her head, holds up her hand, palm outwards, and cuts her off.

“I’m sorry,” Ada tells her. “I… I suppose I never really expected you to see it. I thought I would be back before you missed me.” Ada looks down at her hands, her expression all twisted up, and Hecate wants nothing more than to fold her into her arms and convince her everything will be ok. She doesn’t, of course. She waits for Ada to find her words.

“Today was so busy,” Ada continues, eventually. “There were so many things that needed my attention. So many people. Yesterday as well, and the day before. I just needed...” She glances up, catches Hecate’s eye again. “I needed things to be quiet for a moment.”

She looks at Hecate with her eyes wide and helpless, her troubles written large across her face, tugging the edges of her mouth down, drawing lines in the centre of her brow. Looks at Hecate as though she’s afraid that Hecate might not understand that deep, visceral need to escape, to have everything around her stop, just for one single moment.

“Would you like me to go?” Hecate asks her.

Ada reaches out and takes her hand. “No,” she says. “Stay with me. Please.” She lets put a long, unsteady breath. “I can’t go back right now. Later. I know. I know. But I… can’t.”

She pauses, and Hecate takes that moment to sit down next to her on the rock, to slide her arm around Ada’s waist and pulls her in close against her side. Ada leans her head against Hecate’s shoulder.

Hecate crumples a piece of Ada’s dress in her fingers absently, half-aware of the soft fabric. “I spoke with Dimity before I followed you. She’ll take care of things at the school for the rest of the day. She’s…” She catches herself pursing her lips, like she’s bitten a lemon. “Quite capable.” She leans over and kisses the top of Ada’s head. Her hair is warm from the sun. “You can be headmistress again tomorrow.”

She feels Ada nod against her. For a little while, they sit there, together, looking out over the shining sea.

“I can’t believe I just... left,” Ada says, presently, a note of wonder in her voice.

“You knew I was there,” Hecate counters. “It’s not as though no one would have picked up your responsibilities, should it have been required.”

Ada sighs. “I know you would have. Of course you would.”

 _Just like you did when I died._ It hangs unsaid, heavy in the air between them. A lead weight, like the necklace Agatha made of all the pieces of Ada, looped around both their necks still.

Tears sting behind Hecate’s eyes, and she blinks them back furiously, glad at least that Ada can’t see her face from this angle. And then she feels Ada’s body shake against her, hears her begin, very quietly at first, to sob.

Hecate feels her body release a tiny fraction of its tension. Feels a surge of love so deep and familiar, so much a part of her own soul, that she hardly remembers how to breathe through it. She shifts so she can wrap both her arms tightly around Ada, and she holds her close while Ada cries.

And when, after a while, Ada’s tears start to subside, Hecate releases her grip just enough that she can kiss Ada’s temple, her cheeks, the corner of her mouth, tasting salt on her damp skin.

“I’m all right, Hecate,” Ada tells her. Her voice is a little hoarse, but she sounds calmer now. Closer to herself.

“Of course you are.” Hecate knows she’s smiling, almost despite herself. When Ada reaches up, lacing her fingers into Hecate’s hair, cupping the back of her head to pull her down for a proper kiss, Hecate feels a warmth spread through her, from head to toes.

They spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach, under the gentle sun. They talk a little, but mostly they’re both quiet, content in each other’s presence. Hecate summons a book she has been meaning to read. Ada takes her shoes off and dips her feet in the sea, and after a little persuading, Hecate does too. The water is clear and shockingly cold, and beside her, Ada laughs, bright as a bell.

They’re not there yet, but they’re here. They’re both here. Later they’ll go back, to the school and to their lives and to the work they have to do, but for now, they have this one quiet moment, together.


End file.
